Polychromy in the Purist architecture of Le Corbusier
Jan de Heer oo Publishers, Rotterdam Contents Preface 6 . Introduction 8 The review of the architectonic polychromy of Le Corbusier 9 Issue 16 . Disegno and experimental aesthetics 20 Disegno 20 LEsprit Nouveau 25 Dead painters 26 Living painters 28 Undesirable painters 29 Experimental aesthetics 33 Fechner 34 Lalo 36 Henry 37 Sound box 39 Sensation et nergie 41 Conclusion 42 . Purism: form, beauty and colour Form 44 Beauty 47 Le Purisme 48 Ozenfant and Jeanneret 52 Gamma 61 Ton local 62 Variant paintings 63 Impressionism 66 Conclusion 69 . LEsprit Nouveau and De Stijl 71 LEsprit Nouveau and architecture 71 De Stijl stuttering 73 Piano 77 Wall 78 Geometry 79 Lger and Ozenfant 82 Conclusion 84 . Purist architecture and colour 87 Realized projects 87 Recipe 89 Exterior and interior 94 The associative factor in architectonic polychromy 99 Conclusion 103 . Polychromy and the promenade architecturale 105 Promenade architecturale 105 Appia 108 Maison Guiette 115 Conclusion 120 . Post-Purist architecture and colour 122 Lyricism 122 La peinture moderne 124 Five points and four compositions 126 Villa Baizeau 132 Maison Loucheur 135 Conclusion 140 . Polychromy architecturale 142 Salubra and Polychromy architecturale 142 Architectonic colour 144 Smooth and sculptured 149 Sentiment 151 Salubra keyboard 1931 153 Pavillon Suisse 1933 157 Conclusion 163 . Lespace indicible 165 Synthse des arts 165 Modulor 171 Unit 173 Pavillon Suisse 1957 180 Types couleurs and Salubra 1959 184 Conclusion 188 Appendices 191 I. Publication dates of L'Esprit Nouveau 192 II. List of pseudonyms of Ozenfant and Jeanneret 193 III. List Variant paintings 194 IV. Realized projects and references with regard to polychromy 199 V. Texts by Le Corbusier on polychromy 207 Bibliography 240 Index 244 Credits 246 Preface Polychromy is an essential ornamental component of architecture. Polychromy is concerned with neither the choice of structural system nor the ordering of spaces, but involves the treatment of the surfaces that are exposed to everyday use. In present-day architecture, this often relates to the choice and ordering of the materials. The origin of the debate on modern architectonic polychromy lies in the nine- teenth century, and the true centre of gravity lies in post-Revolution France. The idea of polychromous architecture arose at the moment that the classical ideal of architecture, the Greek temple and the accompanying architectonic orders became hackneyed. Opposing this universal, eternal monolithic model of architecture, archaeological research had indicated that a constructive skeleton had been coated with a layer of stucco bearing expressive ornamentation and decorations. It had not been a monolithic structure but a polylithic one, and not a radiant monochrome architecture but one rich in polychromy. The term poly- chromy acquired a polemical charge. The architects involved in this concept-forming included Henri Labrouste, Lon Vaudoyer, Flix Duban, Jacques Ignace Hittorf, and Gottfried Semper. On the basis of this division into construction and cladding, the last-mentioned archi- tect developed an architectural theory in which cladding fullled a dominant role. At the opposite extremity, there arose the idea of an evolution of architec- ture which took the history of building techniques as its starting point, the work of Auguste Choisy being a classic example in this context. The discovery of traces of paint on the walls of the construction elements of the antique temples induced Labrouste and his fellows to draw far-reaching conclu- sions. Their reconstructions of the antique temples were equipped with richly painted polychromous decoration. The work of these architects also often dis- played coloured use of materials and also painted polychromous decorations. The work of Le Corbusier also conforms to this tradition, from his earliest work right down to his last. The polychromy of his Purist architecture, dating approx- imately from to , represents an exceptional period in his oeuvre. From onward, Le Corbusier worked as a painter and the experiences he thus gained led him to formulate a radical change in his notions of polychromy. His buildings were painted in their entirety in various colours, comparable to the way in which he assigned colour to the forms in his paintings. The polychromy of his architecture in this stage of his work can be regarded as a play of colours. The efect of this painting was one of total dematerialization, of pure reduction to architectonic form and colour. Hittorf thought that a polychromous system had existed for the Greek temples just as it had done for architecture. Much of the literature on the polychromy of Le Corbusiers Purist architecture assumed a similar system. In his post-war work in particular, a certain systematic use of colour is immediately conspicu- ous. However, this book presents the view indicate that the system of poly- 6 chromy in Purist architecture only referred to the palette of colours. In the thirties, this extraordinary position was abandoned and his architectonic polychromy acquired a more regular character; in other words, he devoted attention not only to painted polychromy but also to the natural polychromy of the materials. The extent to which Le Corbusier was acquainted with this (ancient) history is not known. But he was deeply aware of the fact that polychromy is an aspect of architecture, even in its purely painted form. This book is not a historical study of the relationship between colour and archi- tecture in general nor is it a historical study of architectonic polychromy. Rather, it represents a reconstruction of a working method and of the considerations that led to this working method. It is the reconstruction of the architectonic polychromy that Le Corbusier developed for his Purist architecture. This recon- struction investigates the relationship between Purist painting and Purist archi- tecture, with the emphasis on the relationship between form and colour. Research into the origins of the various constituent components of Purist poly- chromy has given this book a certain kaleidoscopic character. As far as possible, an analysis is performed on the polychromy of Le Corbusiers projects from the twenties. Much attention is paid to the way in which he applied the colours in his architecture during a promenade architecturale. A critical analysis of Le Corbusiers article entitled Polychromy architecturale forms a concluding evaluation of the study. Finally, as a contrast to the unsys- tematic polychromy from the twenties, a chapter on the systematic use of colour in his architecture from the fties has been added. This book was originally published in Dutch. The English edition contains sev- eral small improvements. 7 8 The architectonic revolution is complete... Space, Salubra wallpaper collection, 1931 1 Introduction 1 1 Le Corbusier, Oeuvre com- plte II -, . 2 For all Le Corbusiers texts on colour, see Appendix V. 3 See Appendix V. 4 For all coloured drawings and coloured-in photos in publications from the twen- ties, see Appendix IV 9 The review of the architectonic polychromy of Le Corbusier The rst part of Le Corbusiers Oeuvre complte was published at the end of , immediately after his return from South America. The book is a summary of a decade of modern architecture, the conclusion of a period. In the introduction to the second part of this Oeuvre complte, which embraces the period from to , he wrote: It was by chance that the rst volume came out in . This year meant to me, to a certain extent, the end of the rst period of investiga- tions. opened a period of new tasks; it relates to important works, great events in architecture and town construction, to the marvellous epoch of evolv- ing a new machine civilization. Le Corbusier regarded his architectonic revolu- tion as complete. It is interesting to know that, of the realized works, only three were allocated any elucidatory words on the subject of colour use: the La Roche-Jeanneret vil- las, the housing project in Pessac, and the Pavillon de LEsprit Nouveau. Alto- gether, Le Corbusier expended no more than nine hundred words on this topic. In comparison to the enormous quantity of his other writings, it comes of rather poorly. The text on Pessac appeared in LArchitecture Vivante and later in Oeuvre complte I; the Pavillon de LEsprit Nouveau was a little more expansively treated in Le Corbusiers Almanach darchitecture moderne and also returned in an abbreviated version in Oeuvre complte; the colour of the La Roche-Jeanneret villas was only discussed in Oeuvre complte. These articles, plus a text in Cahiers dart, are the meagre textual remains of reections on colour from the period of Le Corbusiers architectonic revolution. For coloured pictures, one had to rely upon LArchitecture Vivante, in which seven diferent projects were presented. In the context of historiography, the wallpaper samples book he compiled for the Salubra company forms a rich supplement, giving greater insight into the polychromy experiments he had undertaken in previous years. The samples themselves consisted mainly of plain colours that corresponded to the previ- ously painted colours. A colour keyboard was supplied along with the samples book, providing the opportunity to make colour choices. This ofers insight into the combination patterns that he used in various buildings. What he had used as experiments in his houses in the twenties was commercialized with the wallpa- per and made suitable for large-scale application. The actual accompanying text of the Salubra collection was never published by Le Corbusier himself. Although the samples book itself came with a short expla- nation, the text entitled Polychromy architecturale, which was rst made pub- lic in the eighties, contained a comprehensive explanation of the wallpaper col- lection in addition to an equally extensive outline of the polychromy in his architecture. In conjunction with the samples book, this text provides the most 5 le Corbusler, Veel- kleurlgleld ln arcllieciuur, ln 1an de leer, Kleur en architectuur (Roiierdam, i,80). lor an exienslve revlew ol ills subjeci and a ublcailon ol ile iexi Polyclromle arcllieciurale ln ilree languages (lrencl, Cerman, and lngllsl), see Ruegg, A., Le Corbusier - Polychromie architecturale (Basle, i,,/). A (sllglily lmroved) iranslailon lnio lngllsl ol le Corbuslers arilcle, iaken lrom Rueggs book, las been lncluded ln Aendlx V. 6 lliclcock, l.R. and Pllll 1olnson, The Inter- national Style (New York, i,0o), /. 7 leger, l., Mauern, Arclliekien und Maler ln Mensch. Machine. Malerei (Bern, i,/i), i(o, orlglnally ubllsled as Fonctions de la peinture (Parls, i,0). 10 comleie lciure ol le Corbuslers amblilons ln ills eld. Arilur Ruegg regards ile sei-u ol ile samles book as ile iesiameni ol ile Purlsi colour ileory and, ln dolng so, lmlles ilai ills also marked ile concluslon ol a cerialn erlod wlil regard io colour. ln ile same year ilai ile Salubra collecilon aeared, i,i, an exllblilon on modern arcllieciure was leld ln ile Museum ol Modern Ari ln New York. 1le book coverlng ile exllblilon, The International Style by lliclcock and 1olnson, aeared a year laier. le Corbuslers vlllas were allocaied a arilcularly conslc- uous lace among ile modern arcllieciure ol ile iweniles. ln ile book, ile alnied olyclromy ln modern arcllieciure was reduced io iwo oslilons: ln lolland and Cermany small areas ol brlgli elemeniary colors were used, ln lrance large areas ol more neuiral color. 1le iwo racilces were ln large ari due io ile lnuence ol iwo dllereni sclools ol absiraci alnilng, as reresenied on ile one land by Mondrlaan and ile oiler by 0zenlani. ln boil cases colors were arilclally alled and ile majorliy ol wall surlaces remalned wllie. And ile ireailse conilnues wlil ile remark ilai colour ls currenily (i,z) used io a mucl lesser exieni. li ceased io siarile and began io bore. Neliler le Corbusler nor 1leo van Loesburg, wlo lad dled jusi revlously, ln Marcl i,i, recelved ile lonour ilai was due io llm. Alier all, alilougl le Corbusler and 0zenlani severed relailons wlil one anoiler as lar back as i,z, Purlsi alnilng was ilelr jolni rogeny, and ile olyclromle arcllieciurale was excluslvely le Cor- buslers work. And alilougl Mondrlaan lad wrliien a greai deal on ile absor- ilon ol alnilng ln arcllieciure and ile layoui ol lls own siudlo was a mlxed meialor ol ills noilon, 1leo van Loesburg was aciually ile drlvlng lorce bellnd ile varlous colour exerlmenis ln ile arcllieciure ol Le Siljl. Neverile- less, The International Style lad lniroduced a slmle reducilon and dlcloiomy ln ldeas lnio general clrculailon. ln May i,, ile alnier lernand leger gave a leciure ln Zurlcl enililed les raoris de larcllieciure ei de la elniure, wllcl was also relerred io as le mur, larclliecie, le elnire ln lis wrliien lorm. 1le leciure was resenied on ile occaslon ol an exllblilon ol lls work belng slown ilere. ln some ol legers revlous arilcles on ile same ileme, le lad manoeuvred close io ile oslilon adoied by le Corbusler. Bui as ile iweniles rogressed, le began io exerl- ence lncreaslng sceilclsm wlil regard io alnilng ln arcllieciure. lall ol ile leciure ln Zurlcl was exressly dlrecied over ile leads ol ile audlence ioward arclliecis ln general. le dld noi ialk aboui colour bui railer aboui ile blank wall, aboui ile dlvlslon ol labour, and aboui ile soclal lmllcailons ol modern arcllieciure. leger wondered wly arcllieciure, alnilng and sculiure were no longer lnierconnecied, as iley lad been ln ile asi, and le gave arclliecis ile blame lor ills. le observed ilai modern arcllieciure lad exanded io cover ile eld ol urban lannlng. ln dolng so, le olnied io ile scllsm beiween modern arcllieciure and ile lllesiyle ol ile common man wlo was conslgned, lel- lessly, io an emiy sace wlil blank walls wlilln modern arcllieciure. Palniers were needed io ll ills vold, clalmed leger. ln lls olnlon, based on ile rlncl- le ol seclallzailon, li was noi ldeal io lave ile arcllieci deiermlne ile colours. 1le alnier ls ile arcl-enemy ol all dead surlaces and ls silll awalilng your asslgnmeni. Lo arclliecis aciually know wlai li means io creaie bulld- 11 Fernand Lger, Pierre Jeanneret and Le Corbusier near Carcassonne FLC L4-14-16-001 Alfred Roth, Der Ton, 1933 Alfred Roth, Der Farbton, 1933 Alfred Roth, Die Farbe, 1933 lngs lor ile eole? Arclliecis ougli io iackle ills roblem ln conjuncilon wlil sculiors and alniers. le descrlbed ile seclalliy ol ile alnier as lollows: Colour ls one ol ile elemenis ol llle, no less so ilan waier or re, a raw maie- rlal jusi as uselul as graln. You lave brougli movemeni io your walls by means ol colours, le sald io ile arclliecis, bui ile alnier ls ile one wlo iruly acil- vaies ilem. Colour ls noi someillng suerclal, bui railer someillng ilai ls vlial. 1le leciure was undoubiedly a resonse io le Corbuslers Salubra collecilon. le Corbusler lad made use ol ile lrase Colour ls one ol ile elemenis ol llle, noi less so ilan waier or re, counierslgned wlil ile name lernand leger, as a slo- gan ln ile elucldailon ol lls wallaer collecilon. leger aarenily was unlay wlil ile assoclailon ol lls slogan and lls name wlil a rojeci ln wllcl colour was alled io an arcllieciural rojeci wliloui a alnier belng lnvolved. ln lls vlew, ile slgnlcance ilai colour galned lrom ile land ol ile alnier exiended luriler ilan ile colour keyboards ol ile Salubra collecilon. Among legers audlence ln Zurlcl ilai day was Allred Roil, a lormer member ol sial ol le Corbusler, wlo dld noi agree wlil varlous siandolnis ol ile seaker. Roil lad seclal lnieresi ln ile iolc, arily due io lls coniaci wlil le Corbusler and Mondrlaan. Silmulaied by ills leciure, le roduced lls own els- ile enililed Arclliekiur und Malerel, Analyse der larblgen 0beraclengesial- iung von Raum und Volumen (Arcllieciure and Palnilng. Analysls ol coloured surlaces ol sace and volumes). le was concerned wlil ile oilcal elecis ol colour, dlvlded lnio ilree levels ol lniensliy: ile 1one, ile Colour 1one, and ile Colour. 1o ile lowesi lniensliy level, ile 1one, Roil aiiacled ile seclc aiien- ilon ilai leger lad dlrecied ioward mass-roduced louslng. 1le 1one lad io be used ln neuiral colours io amelloraie ile roorilons ln louslng consirucilon and worklaces. Subsequenily, ile Colour 1one lad exllcli oilcal roeriles and was caable ol clanglng sailal roorilons, arilcularly ln comblnailon wlil wllie and grey. Accordlng io Roil, ile mosi lmoriani examle ol ills could be lound ln ile work ol le Corbusler. llnally, le regarded ile ilree rl- mary colours, along wlil wllie, black and grey, as used ln Le Siljl, as belng ile Colour. le relerred exllclily io Mondrlaans siudlo as an examle ol ills. Roil resenied lls siudy ai ile louril ClAM congress ln ile resence ol le Corbusler and leger. Ai ile same congress, ln ile llons den one mlgli say, leger leld ile same leciure as ln Zurlcl, bui now enililed Llscours aux arclliecies. Roil lad seni lls iexi io Mondrlaan lor commeni rlor io ile leciure. 1ley soke aboui li comrelenslvely, on several occaslons. Roil never meniloned any communlca- ilon wlil le Corbusler on ile iexi. 1le laiier, wlo could be regarded as ile iuior ol Roil ln modern arcllieciure io a cerialn exieni, musi lave seen ills as beirayal by Roil. 1le end ol i,( wlinessed ile ubllcailon ol ile second ari ol le Corbuslers Oeuvre complte wlil a loreword by Slglrled Cledlon. le argued ilai ile arcll- ieciure ol le Corbusler was based on ile llve olnis, and regarded Vllla Savoye (i,z,) as ile llglllgli ol ills ileory. Wlil regard io ile vlllas, ills was also ile end olni, as none ol ile slx dwelllng louses ilai le Corbusler bulli ln ile illriles was deslgned wlil relerence io ilese llve olnis. And only one ol ilese bore olyclrome alnilng, namely, lls own louse on ile rue Nungesser- 12 8 lbld. i(z 9 Roil, A., Begegnung mit Pionieren (Siuiigari, i,/), i/o. 10 li ls sirlklng ilai ile sclemailc dlvlslon ol ile colours ilai Roil used was borrowed lrom ile scleme ilai 1leo van Loesburg lad resenied ln Le beieekenls van de kleur ln blnnen- en bulien-arclliec- iuur. le Corbusler lad relused io ubllsl ills aril- cle ln LEsprit Nouveau, wllcl Roil robably dld noi know ai ilai ilme, see also . 8, 80 ol ills book. ei-Coll. lowever, mucl use was made ol ile exresslve claracier ol naiural maierlals. We also know wlil cerialniy ilai colour was alled ln ilree large- scale bulldlngs ilai were consirucied ai ile same ilme: ile Clarie bulldlng ln Zurlcl, Pavlllon Sulsse and ile Clie de Reluge, boil ln Parls. ln ills coniexi, one musi reallze ilai, alier i, io i,(0, le Corbusler only reallzed one slngle bulld- lng. Wlil ile exceilon ol ile releniless ow ol rojecis and ubllcailons, lls arcllieciural racilce lad come almosi io a lali. ln a dlscusslon wlil leger and Aragon on Pelniure ei reallie ln i,0, le Cor- busler lormulaied a resonse io boil Roil and leger. le was scaillng aboui Roils relerence lor Mondrlaan. Perlas ile norilern races ile Anglo-Sax- ons or ile Cermanlc eoles iake ile llberiy io lndulge ln absiracilons, le wroie. ln conirasi, lrencl ari ls essenilally concreie and reallsilc and lorms ile basls ol lniernailonal ari. le endorsed legers clalm ilai ile aris lad eniered a collecilve erlod, wlil arcllieciure ai ile lore. Arcllieciure lad io be accomanled by alnilng and sculiure, bui le assumed ile rlmacy ol arcll- ieciure. li lad io make demands on ile oiler ari lorms so ilai iley could be adoied lnio arcllieciure ln a larmonlous manner. Arcllieciure could noi rogress luriler wliloui ilese, bui ll iley wlsled io accomany arcllieciure iley lad io iake roorilon, ile basls ol arcllieciure, as ile siarilng olni. None ile less, le was also alrald ilai lnarorlaie ari would soll ile walls and, lor ilai reason ioo, ile arilsi lad io lollow ile iraln ol ilougli ol ile arcllieci. le dlsilngulsled iwo meilods ol alylng alnilng. 1le rsi was olyclromy. ln lls vlew, arcllieciural olyclromy could curb conluslon, creaie lyrlcal saces, brlng order, enlarge dlmenslons. 1lls ls noi yei alnilng. 1lai ls noi necessary. 1lls ls arclliecionlc olyclromy. ll a wall or ari ol a wall las an oresslve eleci, l can break li oen wlil a suliable colour. Bui, ll ilere ls scoe lor li, l can also ask a alnier io slae lls lmaglnailve ilouglis on ills iolc and io oen ile doors io ile dlsiani land ol dreams ln one lell swoo and eseclally ai ilose laces wlere ilere ls no real deil. 1le second meilod could be alled wlen ile arcllieci reared a lace lor ile arilsi io lniroduce a lyrlcal ioucl ln ile wlole ol lls arcllieciure. Wlil ills, ile osslbll- liy ol dee larmony was generaied, bui ile danger ol duallsm loomed. 1o le Corbusler, ile lniegrailon ol modern arcllieciure ln large urban rojecis and ile alm io ensure ile allcabllliy ol olyclromy ln wallaer lor ile common man were ari and arcel ol ile same ldeal. le wlsled io exiraci ile relailonsll wlil alnilng lrom ills rocess and io lniegraie li ln a new synilese des aris. 1le same book ilai conialns ile above-meniloned iexi by le Corbusler also lncludes a iexi by Alberio Sariorls, Colour ln lnierlor arcllieciure. Sariorls lad been a member ol ile Movlmenio liallano er larcllieiiura razlonale slnce i,z,, and le Corbusler knew llm lrom ile rsi ClAM congress ln i,z8. ln ills iexi, Sariorls ireaied colour as a vlial comlemeni ol arcllieciure, li ls one ol lis loglcal and lndlsensable elemenis. le dlsilngulsled beiween a dynamlc and a neo-lasilc meilod, boil ol wllcl are rmly llnked io ileorles ol arclliec- ionlc luncilonallsm. Accordlng io ile dynamlc meilod, walls ilai do noi recelve dlreci llgli ougli io be alnied wllie or glven a very llgli colour. Walls ilai are lall-lllumlnaied or lully lli can be glven gradually brlglier colours. Bui every colour las io reseci ile wall, lis lorm, volume and urose. ln ile neo-lasilc 13 11 le Corbusler, Lesiln de la elniure ln La querelle de ralisme (Parls, i,0), 8o l. Publlsled ln lngllsl as le Corbusler, 1le quarrel wlil reallsm, ile desilny ol alnilng ln 1.l. Mariln ei al., Circle, International Sur- vey of Constructive Art (london, i,/), 0/ l. See also le Corbusler, les ien- dances de larcllieciure railonallsie en raori avec la collaborailon de la eln- iure ei de la sculiure ln LArchitecture Vivante. Le Corbusier et Pierre Jean- neret, seileme serle, Parls i,/, a leciure leld ln Rome ln i,0. 12 lbld. /o. 13 lbld. /z-. 14 Sariorls, A., Colour ln lnierlor arcllieciure ln 1.l. Mariln ei al., Circle, Inter- national Survey of Construc- tive Art (london, i,/), ziz l. 15 Braham, W., Modern Color / Modern Architecture (Burlington, ); this books sketch of the colour theory of Purism is rather inadequate. 14 method, every wall is painted in the primary colours of red, yellow or blue, along with white, grey and black. In contrast to this restriction of the palette, the dynamic method makes use of all colours. Sartoris believed that, to generate harmony, it was best to make use of dissonance and contrast, thus creating an animated unity, a vital harmony. With this, he took a stand against the mono- chrome interior and the monochordal composition of the interior, and saw his idea of harmony as the normal link in attuning architecture and divergent fur- nishings. In a recent study, William Braham has dealt with Ozenfants ideas on poly- chromy in the thirties. In , Ozenfant published several articles on colour in relation to architecture, and these formed the basis of Brahams study. The arti- cles showed that Ozenfant had denitively abandoned his Purist standpoint, and that he had not followed Le Corbusiers transformation of this standpoint to architecture. His ideas were a complete repudiation of a position that he had rst advanced in , in conjunction with Le Corbusier, and which Le Corbusier still appeared to advocate. Ozenfant adopted an almost scientic approach, as had been elaborated by Signac at the end of the nineteenth century. Colour was treated as an autonomous phenomenon, subject to its own laws. In architecture, colour was not directly connected to form and proportion, but rather to ambi- ence, use, the furnishings, and the entire upholstery of the interior. One can conclude that, in the early thirties, a picture arose of the architectonic Alberto Sartoris, Casa Morand-Pasteur, axonometry of interior, 1933 Alberto Sartoris, Casa Morand-Pasteur, axonometry of interior, 1933 15 Amde Ozenfant, colour scheme of interior of own studio in London, 1937